Monday, December 1, 2008

For those of you who wish to participate in the life of our churches in the Greater Greek Orthodox Community of Salt Lake City, please be aware that: your honor, your good intentions, your prior stewardship, your previous efforts, your life-long commitment to your church are no longer "good enough". For a second time, our proistamenoi have rejected qualified candidates on the basis of church attendance. (We will discuss other "reasons" for disqualifications in a later article.)

You must now provide proof for our proistamenoi that you are "ecclesiastically eligible" to hold any position of responsibility in the "brave new church" of the constantly shifting clerical whims. You must attend church EACH Sunday, and you must take communion at a minimum of once each month. Other older rules or wisdoms, passed down by your less pious parents and grandparents or prior priests, no longer apply. (Please note, however, that NONE of these "new rules" apply when searching for festival volunteers or during stewardship drives!)

Insofar as attendance, however, help is on the way. In order to be "eligible" to run for the parish council, or participate in youth ministries, dance groups or church sports, we have provided a downloadable attendance card.

The instructions are simple: click on the card image, then print out as many as you need.

Be sure to have an appropriate authority sign you in at the narthex as you enter, and be sure to have the priest sign you out as he gives the antidwro.

Bear in mind that you are responsible to keep this record in case you're ever questioned regarding your church attendance. Otherwise your priests reserve the right to determine for themselves how regular your attendance is. As they have photographic memories, along with ESP, they are fully aware at all times of everyone's attendance at either church on any given Sunday or holiday.

In the interest of time and economy, please be sure to provide your own pen for these purposes. (Three attendances in a row and you get one free! Weekday services count double!)

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THE LEADER WE DESPERATELY NEED!

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STEWARDSHIP

ClickHEREto download and print a Stewardship Pledge Form and send to Church Office with your pledge payment.

SAYS IT ALL!

TRANSLATION? (Please note the translations are not exact)

CONSEQUENCES OF UPR "THEOCRACY"

The UPRs, as currently enacted, have succeeded in proving that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Having witnessed events first-hand for so long now, it is hard not to come to the sad conclusion that some of our clergy actually seem to relish the controversy, despite any inherent intellect, ability and talent.

Unfortunately this “brave new church”, spawned by these vaunted UPRs, and by this ridiculous and inept notion of the church as a military-style hierarchy, fosters a lack of humility, tact and compassion. It promotes utter disrespect and disregard for the laity, which, in turn, promotes disrespect for the clergy. The schism the regulations profess to prevent is the schism they are now engendering.

A QUESTION OF "RESPECT"?

The truly silly aspect of this ongoing and absurd situation is that the clergy has always had built-in advantage in their relationships with the laity. The collar and cassock inspire and command respect right off the bat - the rest of us, in our professional and social interactions have to earn the respect beforehand. No one hopes his or her priests will fail. The clergy here lately have actually had to work at it to lose the respect of their flock!

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

Question: who builds a gazebo and barbecue deck in their yard when the roof of their house is caving in?

Answer: Fr. Michael and his supporters. Surely the Proistamenos-of-Prophet-Elias-only could have prevailed upon the donors to fix the DOME of the church as a means to honor loved ones, before proceeding with less critical projects? Apparently not.

One Year Later!

ΑΙΩΝΙΑ H MNHMH!

FALSE INFO? WE DON'T THINK SO!

The Metropolitan accuses many of providing false information with regard to parish property. He cites that the UPRs state that the parish holds title to all its real estate and personal property. He asks "what is the argument"?

One could be tempted to find comfort in this citation, if not for two other existing UPR conditions.

The first is that the Parish Council holds all control of said properties owned by the parish. Since the Parish Council can be disbanded, presumably at the whim of a peevish hierarch, where has the control shifted?

Second, if the laity becomes so exasperated with this sorry state of affairs that it reduces funding (the only real power left to it under an obnoxious system where the laity is utterly marginalized) and if a community is declared in disarray, or in schism, it is the hierarchy that comes in to take the real property. (This action was, in fact, attempted in 2009 in Charlottesville, Virginia.)

MOVING FORWARD!

"Let the dividers STOP, and the uniters START!"

- Former State Senator George E. Mantes

"The high destiny of the individual is to serve, rather than to rule."

- Albert Einstein

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CONSIDER ...

There is a danger in the amassing of the Church property under one control. As the Catholic Church learned (the hard way) in sexual abuse cases that the the entire property holding will be subjected to payment of a lawsuit. Much better to decentralize!

This is a well-known business practice where corporations incorporate separate facilities so if one has poor results it can be dissolved without damaging the entire corporation. A single store could become bankrupt but not the whole.

AN EXAMPLE FOR ALL COMMUNITIES!

THE CHURCH AND THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

From the Special General Assembly, June 27th, 1999: "First and foremost we are a church (ekklesia--meaning the people) any decisions should help minister to the people, effective, and efficient ministering to our peers. The Church has to do with people; people are the most important." - Fr. John Kaloudis

==========================

«Η έκκλησία δεv είvαι εξoυσία, ειvαι διακovεία.»

"The Church's purpose in not that of dominion or power; it is that of service."

- Ieronymos, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece

==========================

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

- The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

ON A COLD AND RAINY OCTOBER AFTERNOON ...

Today, October 24th, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. nearly 350 Greek Orthodox Christians gathered to say that voices may NOT be stilled or stifled. Of those who attended, 347 registered to participate and to vote; 339 actually cast ballots. Three questions (in synopsis form here) were asked, with both English and Greek ballots provided:

1. Asked if those assembled agreed with the decreed split, or if they would prefer to remain united.Vote: 328-FOR UNITY; 11-FOR SPLITTING

2. Asked if those assembled would favor the formation of a committee to appeal to the Archdiocese, the Eparchial Synod, and the Patriarchate.Vote: 330-FOR; 9-AGAINST

3. Asked if those assembled favored exploring legal action to prevent or challenge the division of the Parish in civil court, recognizing that the option would involve considerable expense.Vote: 248-FOR; 91-AGAINST

THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE IS THE VOICE OF GOD!

Φωνή λαού, οργή Θεού.

Vox populi, vox Dei.

THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE IS THE VOICE OF GOD.

WE STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH OUR GREEK ORTHODOX BRETHREN IN LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS WHERE PRIESTS AND PARISH COUNCIL MEMBERS, AND THE LAITY ARE HEROES!!! BRAVO, PAIDIA! PANTA AXIOI!!!